In the past, RF tags have been used in a limited capacity to track the location of assets. For example, near-field RF tags have been mounted on crates or pallets used in storage facilities. RF readers may be located at certain choke-points such as at the exits or entrances of the storage facilities and read the RF tags on the pallet and send the RF tag's identification to a central computer. However, due to their limited range and functionality, these RF tags offer only a verification of an asset's presence and do not provide the ability to track the geographic location of assets within storage facilities. Similar systems are in use with electronic article surveillance systems to prevent retail theft. Other prior art systems have employed transponders whose geometrical location can be estimated by 3D triangulation methods. A drawback of these techniques is that they are costly, on both the transponder and reader side.
It therefore remains an important and necessary function, with special concern to the retail industry, to be able to track the geographic location of assets within a region, in a cost effective manner. For example, the ability to track the geographic location of promotion displays, fixtures, floor models, inventory and collateral within a retail space remains an important objective of the retail industry.
When a retailer lays out displays, fixtures and inventory in a store, it follows a carefully designed planogram, which is a schematic drawing of fixtures that illustrate product placement. Non-compliance with these planograms can result in substantially lower performance and in lower customer satisfaction. A need, therefore, exists to be able to monitor configurations of these assets to assist retailers to verify and correct execution in individual stores.